Wednesday, March 26, 2008

The Next Big Things at NASA

Ok, a quick break from studies and an update to my blog.

First, thanks to ALL the people who have commented. I never expected seven comments for my first blog entry :D, so thanks!

I'll try to keep writing as much as possible, but truly regular blogging will only happen from April 5.

I was thinking this morning about SSP. For those of you who don't know, SSP is a really amazing summer camp I went to in the summer of 2007, and which - as the much-clichéd saying goes - changed my life. Well, it really did, so I don't know how else to put it. You can read about SSP here.

Anyway, I went and stayed in the summer camp in California with 33 of the brightest minds from around the world, and guess what we did there. That's right, we had fun! We played around all day, formed a Cult inspired by the Duck (more on that in the coming weeks), played foosball, soccer and poker, hung around with friends till 4 in the morning, went on great field trips, had awesome food, you know, the works. Oh, and occasionally we also studied astronomy (spherical trigonometry and cylindrical coordinates - don't even think about asking) and tracked down an asteroid which appeared to have an attitude problem.

When I came back to India, people were all over me, saying "WOW man, you're the next big thing at NASA, aren't you? You must have studied your [censored] off at SSP and done research beyond our wildest dreams! Did you eat or sleep at all?"

I tried in vain to explain to them that SSP wasn't about studying our whatsits off. We did research, true, but it wasn't exactly earth-shattering. It was all about fun. Well, when people showed an irritating tendency of continuing to disbelieve me, I showed them this video from SSP. The guy in the dinner jacket with the weird sunglasses and the headband a la Jimi Hendrix is me. My valiant opponent is a Greek guy called Alex. Brilliant guy, learned Texas Holdem in no time, and spouted probabilities along the way. The coward who tried to strangle me midway into the fight is a Californian called Liam (more about him later - trust me, this guy has a LOT of stories about him). Other minor background characters are Udbhav (from India), Daksha (from Singapore), and Sydney (from Las Vegas!). If any of you are reading this, miss you loads!






If that kind of activity befits the "next big things at NASA", I'm afraid the future of astronomy in the world looks very, very bleak.

By the way, as you can see from my amazingly athletic moves, I love The Matrix trilogy. Me and several million other people. The funny thing is, EVERYONE at SSP liked it. Now would you call that weird?

Z

18 comments:

udi said...

Minor?, Background?, "character"? I think I've just had enough.

But seriously, nice posts. I guess we have an MIT blogger in the making.

Rik said...

Hey by "minor" I meant "minor till now", by "background" I meant the setting, by "character" I meant one of the best human beings I have ever known. That, Udi my friend, is you.

Thanks, but MIT blogging is still a FAR-off possibility :D. But thanks for the words of encouragement ...

Rik

Anonymous said...

mit bloggers ain't funny. you are. why just two posts? keep em coming!

Elliott said...

Hey don't automatically assume this isn't the sort of action that happens at NASA

Vihang said...

I am waiting for the Duck Cult story ... and this is what happens to MIT students working at NASA.

Rik said...

LOL Vihang, awesome! Thanks for the comments guys. Chris - wow, that's gotta be the nicest compliment I've heard for a very long time.

Shruthi said...

Lol... Seriously!!! :D (I didnt really expect anything else from the guy who keeps poking innocent souls *me* )

Lol. :D

Aditi said...

SSP sounds awesome :)

I *love* the matrix trilogy , except its somewhat tragic that neo only seemed to have a guest appearance in the third movie.

I linked to your blog :)

Vihang said...

Rik, you've got a natural flair for awesome writing skills and witty humour ... that's why we keep you around! ;)

And take a look around that blog I linked you to ... Vinayak Ranade was at IMOTC 05 and he is quite inspired by Douglas Adams.

♥anindita♥ said...

hey!
nice blog! i like your philosophy of life, seeing that mine is the same :P...

and oh yes! do get a shoutbox for yourself....:)

Rik said...

hehe thanks everyone! vihang, mate, i DID visit the site. it's awesome! anindita, i'll get hold of a shoutbox ASAP. aditi, wait till you hear the REAL behind-the-scenes stories at SSP. shruthi my friend, remember that when i poke, you poke BACK. hey, i'm an innocent soul too :D. and finally elliott, elliott, elliott. who would know THAT better than you, me and liam? remember the movie we shot ...

Shruthi said...

I poke back in self defense Mistah Pokey Rik :D You started it... *Goes to a corner and starts talking to herself*

Oh yeah, what was I saying? :D

Anonymous said...

MIT blogger? Really? Yuo write very well though, and the vedio is very funny. You write kind of like Duoglas Adams :) I'll bookmark your blog :)

Ashwath said...

Rik, that was very nice. Nice to see you on Blogger :)

Anonymous said...

hey hey hey. i did NOT like the matrix trilogy. don't you go spouting absolutes like that! :)

Shruthi said...

Rik, you are taking a loooooooooong time to update :D Lol

Anonymous said...

Oh, I was so close to being in that video, I think I was just to the left of the cameraman. I too am awaiting to see any entries you might have about the Duck Cult. We need to get the word out there, and the Cult will rise again!

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